Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) is an independent entity within the National Institutes of Health.[1] Its mission is to "make pivotal investments in break-through technologies and broadly applicable platforms, capabilities, resources, and solutions that have the potential to transform important areas of medicine and health for the benefit of all patients and that cannot readily be accomplished through traditional research or commercial activity."[2]

Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H)
Agency overview
FormedMarch 15, 2022 (2022-03-15)
JurisdictionFederal Government of the United States
Agency executives
Parent departmentDepartment of Health and Human Services
Parent agencyNational Institutes of Health
Websitearpa-h.gov

ARPA-H was approved by Congress with the passing of H.R. 2471, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 and was signed into Public Law 117-103 by U.S. president Joe Biden on March 15, 2022.[3] 15 days later Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra announced that the agency will have access to the resources of the National Institutes of Health, but will answer to the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services.[4] The agency initially has a $1 billion budget to be used before fiscal year 2025 (October 2024) and the Biden administration has requested much more funding from Congress. On September 13, 2022, Biden announced his intent to appoint Renee Wegrzyn, formerly of the DARPA biotech office, as the agency's inaugural director, but it is still unknown where its headquarters will be located.[5]

In December 2022, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (Pub.L. 117-328) provided $1.5 billion for ARPA-H for fiscal year 2023. The Biden administration is requesting $2.5 billion for FY2024. In March 2023, ARPA-H announced one of its three headquarters locations would be in the Washington metropolitan area.[6][7] In September 2023, ARPA-H announced that a second hub would be located in Cambridge, Massachusetts following a bid led by U.S. Representative Richard Neal from Massachusetts's 1st congressional district and University of Massachusetts System President Marty Meehan to have the agency locate a hub in the Greater Boston area.[8][9] The third patient engagement-focused hub was established in Dallas, Texas.[10]

History

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA, formerly ARPA) has been the military's in-house innovator since 1958, a year after the USSR launched Sputnik. DARPA is widely known for creating ARPAnet, the predecessor of the internet, and has been instrumental in advancing hardened electronics, brain-computer interface technology, drones, and stealth technology. Inspired by the success of DARPA, in 2002 the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency (HSARPA) was created and in 2006 the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) was created. This was followed by the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) in 2009 and the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Infrastructure (ARPA-I) in 2022. DARPA also inspired the Advanced Research and Invention Agency in the UK and in 2021 the Biden administration proposed ARPA-C for climate research.[11]

The Suzanne Wright Foundation proposed "HARPA" in 2017 to focus on pancreatic cancer and other challenging diseases.[12] IA white paper was published by former Obama White House staffers, Michael Stebbins and Geoffrey Ling through the Day One Project that proposed the creation of a new federal agency modeled on DARPA, but focused on health. That proposal was adopted by President Biden's campaign and was the model used for establishing ARPA-H.[13] In June 2021 noted biologists Francis S. Collins (then head of the NIH), Tara Schwetz, Lawrence Tabak, and Eric Lander penned an article in Science supporting the idea.[14] Dr. Collins became an important champion of the idea on Capitol Hill and the legislation garnered numerous sponsors in the 117th Congress.

In September 2022, Renee Wegrzyn was appointed as the agency's inaugural director.[15][16][17]

Research

A White House white paper identifies a number of potential directions for technological development that could occur under the direction of ARPA-H, including cancer vaccines, pandemic preparedness, and prevention technologies, less intrusive wearable blood glucose monitors, and patient-specific T-cell therapies.[18] Additionally, the proposal suggests that ARPA-H focus on platforms to reduce health disparities in maternal morbidity and mortality and improve how medications provided are taken.

References
  1. "Russell Named Acting Deputy Director for New Advanced Research Entity". NIH Record. 2022-06-10. Retrieved 2022-08-28.
  2. "ARPA-H Mission". National Institutes of Health (NIH). 29 June 2021. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  3. Jeffries, Hakeem S. (15 March 2022). "H.R.2471 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022". www.congress.gov. Retrieved 27 April 2022. Division H, Title II. Page 136 STAT. 465 contains relevant passage.
  4. Mesa, Natalie (1 April 2022). "ARPA-H to Be Within NIH but Independently Managed by HHS". The Scientist Magazine. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  5. Kozlov, Max (13 September 2022). "Billion-dollar US health agency gets new chief — but its direction remains in limbo". Nature. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  6. Kavya Sekar; Marcy E. Gallo (May 23, 2023). Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H): Overview and Selected Issues (Report 47568) (PDF) (Report). Congressional Research Service. Retrieved July 1, 2023.
  7. Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 117–328 (text) (PDF), Division FF, Title II (page 420 of engrossed bill)
  8. Weisman, Robert; Chesto, Jon (September 26, 2023). "Cambridge picked as a national hub for new federal health research agency". The Boston Globe. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
  9. Chesto, Jon (May 16, 2022). "The feds are choosing a headquarters for a federal health research center. Why not pick Boston?". The Boston Globe. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
  10. Pandey, Maia (2023-09-26). "Dallas selected as one of three national hubs for new medical innovation federal agency". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
  11. Tollefson, Jeff (22 July 2021). "The rise of 'ARPA-everything' and what it means for science". Nature. 595 (7868): 483–484. Bibcode:2021Natur.595..483T. doi:10.1038/d41586-021-01878-z. PMID 34244687. S2CID 235787224. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  12. "HARPA: Health Advanced Research Projects Agency". The Suzanne Wright Foundation. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  13. Stebbins, Michael; Ling, Geoffrey (19 April 2020). "Creating the Health Advanced Research Projects Agency (HARPA)". Federation of American Scientists. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  14. Collins, Francis S.; Schwetz, Tara A.; Tabak, Lawrence A.; Lander, Eric S. (9 July 2021). "ARPA-H: Accelerating biomedical breakthroughs". Science. 373 (6551): 165–167. Bibcode:2021Sci...373..165C. doi:10.1126/science.abj8547. PMID 34244402. S2CID 235769725.
  15. "President Biden Announces Intent to Appoint Dr. Renee Wegrzyn as Inaugural Director of Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H)". The White House. 2022-09-12. Retrieved 2022-09-12.
  16. "DARPA Forward | Dr. Renee Wegrzyn". forward.darpa.mil. Retrieved 2022-09-12.
  17. "Biden's new biomedical innovation agency gets its first director". www.science.org. 2022-09-12. doi:10.1126/science.ade8505. Retrieved 2022-09-18.
  18. "ARPA-H Frequently Asked Questions" (PDF). The White House. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
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